The Components of Christianity, Part 4

Let's pray together. Father God, we thank you for today. What a great joy we have to worship Jesus Christ, our Lord. Today, Lord, as we look once again in your word, we pray that you'd open our eyes that we might see glorious things out of thy law, that we might worship you in spirit and in truth. We might leave this place different than when we arrived because truly we have seen Jesus Christ, our Lord. We pray in your name. Amen. Turn once again in your Bible with me to the book of Luke, Luke chapter nine.

As we look once again at the central teaching of Jesus Christ, our Lord, the core teaching of the ministry of Christ, Luke nine, 23 to 26. It's a short paragraph. Verse number 27 is a part of that paragraph, but that's going to introduce us to the next section dealing with the glorious kingdom of God and how the Lord God unveils his kingdom to his disciples. But we are looking at Luke nine verses 23 to 26. It's imperative because this is the central teaching of Jesus Christ, our Lord, concerning eternal life, concerning salvation.

What is salvation and what happens when someone gives their life to Jesus Christ, our Lord. Unfortunately, people today present Jesus as kind of standing outside the door of your heart, hoping that someone will open up that door that he somehow might be able to come in. But that is not the picture of what the Bible portrays. Although Revelation three 20 does say he behold, I stand at the door and knock. It is not the door of one individual's heart. It's the door of the church, specifically the church of Laodicea, specifically an apostate church.

And Christ gives that invitation. But our Lord, when he came, he came to confront man on his sin. And upon confronting man on his sin, he calls him to salvation. And upon calling him to salvation, he commands him to turn from his sin and follow him. The gospel invitation truly is a command to follow Jesus Christ, our Lord. And that's what Jesus says in Luke nine, verse number 23.

It comes based on a recognition of who Christ is. The context of Luke nine is extremely important because it identifies the Messiah, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and that that Messiah needs to be followed and served, honored and adored. And so Christ tells his men that he was going to die and that he would rise again. So salvation is based on the person and work of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Once you understand that person and once you understand his work, the command simply is this, Luke nine, 23. If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who shall save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words of him, will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels? These words that Christ gave to his apostles are the words that we are to speak when we call people to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Now I know that in the minds of some of you, you are thinking, enough already. We had this verse in Luke nine, 23 memorized frontwards and backwards, inside and out. We know Luke nine, 23, you've covered it for four consecutive weeks. So we know exactly what it says. Do we have to stay here? Answer, yes. Why? I warned you for eight and a half chapters of Luke that when we got here, we'd spend some time here. And so for me to be true to my word, we have to stay on Luke nine, 23 for a while. But because this is the core teaching of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we've seen this through the book of Matthew, the book of Mark, the book of John, the book of Acts.

This is the teaching of Jesus and his disciples to understand the essence of salvation, to understand the core ministry of Christ and what he came to do by calling men to salvation. So we need to understand the essence, the core components of the gospel, what Christianity is all about. But on top of that, we told you last week, and we told you the week before, very simply that the destiny of every soul, of every soul lies in the promise of the cross. And the ministry of every saint lives in the pathway of the cross.

Everything about Christianity centers on the cross of Christ. And therefore, we must really come to grips with it. On top of all that, we cannot afford to forget the words of Jesus Christ. And I told you during our announcement time, I want to refer back to what we talked about on Wednesday night in Jude, because we gave seven principles about why it's so important to remember.

We forget what Jesus said concerning the gospel. But you know what? Why is this important? Well, on Wednesday night, we told you that when you remember the words of Christ, it will relieve the distress of your soul. It will do that. It will revive the life that's downtrodden and brokenhearted. We told you that it will reform your understanding of God's loving discipline of his child. That's why you need to remember the words of Christ. We told you that it rescues you from temptation and from sin when you remember the words of Jesus Christ.

We told you that when you remember the words of Christ, it reveals the essence of true blessing to your heart. But we also told you that when you remember the words of Jesus Christ, it will reinforce in your thinking what Christianity is all about. And that's what Jesus said in the book of John, John chapter 15, verse number 20, when he said these words, remember the word, remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

You see, you can't afford to forget the words of Christ. Why? Because in essence, what it does is reinforce in your thinking what Christianity is all about. When you are persecuted for the words of Christ, and you remember the words of Christ, you remember that a slave is not above his master. And if they persecuted him, they're going to persecute you. And we also told you on Wednesday night that when you remember the words of Christ, it will reproduce in you stability and steadfastness of soul. That's what God's word does.

That's based on Jude 5, Jude 17, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse number 17, and 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 12. And we want to reinforce in your mind stability, steadfastness. We want to be able to refuel the life. We want to be able to rejuvenate the life, revive the life, relieve the soul that's distressed. And so we stay here to help you remember the words of Christ because, listen folks, if you forget, you know what Job says in Job 8, 13? If you forget the words of Christ, you will wither up and die.

How many of you today are withering up in your spiritual life? How many of you today are at that point place spiritually where you feel dried, unused, unfruitful, just kind of going through the motions? The simple answer is this. You have forgotten the words of Jesus Christ, your Lord. You have refused to remember what Jesus said, and now you are suffering the consequences of a forgetful mind. And that's why we encourage you to be in the word, to come on Wednesdays and Sundays to hear the word of God so that you will not forget what God's word says.

So we stay in Luke 9, 23 because you can't afford to forget, listen, the most important ministry of all, and that is the ministry of spreading the good news of Christ and calling people to salvation and what happens when you give your life to Christ and what God does in the heart of a man who was sold out to follow Him. Can't afford to forget. So we stay right here because this is what our ministry is all about, calling people to salvation, that they might understand what saving grace is all about.

You need to remember that entering God's kingdom literally is self-suicide. It's death to self. That's what it is. And sometimes people forget that. It is a willingness to embrace affliction, persecution, suffering, and if need be, execution, because that's what cross-bearing is all about. Being saved is the hardest thing that will ever happen to you. It's not easy to be saved. I know people say that. It's so simple. Just believe in what Jesus says.

All you have to do is pray, give your life to Christ. It's so simple. No, it's not. The Bible says it's absolutely impossible with man.

Only possible with God. It's impossible with man. And salvation is never referred to in Scripture as something that's easy. And let me help you understand that.

Remember when in Matthew chapter 9, Luke records it in Luke chapter 5, the salvation account of Matthew, the tax collector. And what did Jesus say to Matthew? Jesus was leaving Capernaum. Every year we go to Israel, one of my desires is to just stop by the side of the road outside of Capernaum and preach on Luke chapter 5 and the salvation of Matthew, the tax gatherer, because it's so compelling. Christ leaves Capernaum and there is Matthew gathering his finances and Jesus says to him, you follow me.

And Matthew gets up and follows Christ. In Luke 5, verse number 28 says he left everything behind. Folks, that is what salvation is. It's a leaving behind of everything that you've trusted in, everything that you've believed in, everything that you've hoped in, everything that you dream for and giving everything to Christ. That's what happened in Matthew's life. And that's what happens in every soul that's converted, that's truly converted by the Spirit of God. Same thing happened in Andrew's life.

Same thing happened in James' life, in John's life, in Peter's life. How do we know that? Mark chapter 1. In Mark chapter 1, Jesus said this, verse 16, and as he was going along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me. That is salvation's call. Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. And they immediately left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were also in the boat, mending the nets.

And immediately he called them. And they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants and went away to follow him. The essence of salvation is the willingness to leave my future, to leave my financial stability, to leave my family security, to leave it all. That's what happened when they left their nets, they left their father, they left their future, they left their father, their family, they left their finances because that was their job on the sea. They left it all behind to follow Christ because they realized that following him was more valuable than their father, more valuable than their future, more valuable than their finances.

And they left it and they followed Christ because Jesus said something very unique. He says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. That word make is so unique. It's so beautiful to understand because people say, you know, you just, you keep preaching this, man, people are going to be so discouraged. Quite the contrary. People who leave their ways to follow the way of Christ, because he said, I am the way, the truth and the life, right? So you leave your ways to follow his ways. You leave your life to have his life.

You leave your error filled soul to follow the truth of God. You leave to follow him. And when you do, he says, I will make you fishers of men. Now listen to this Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one, same word is used in verse number 20 when it says, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what he has been made. Through what has been made. The divine attributes of God, listen carefully, are clearly seen in creation by what he himself has made.

The word there is poema, same word used in Mark chapter one. Talk about how Christ is going to make you a literary masterpiece for his glory. When you look at creation, you see a masterpiece of the glory of God.

Therefore Romans one 20 says that men is without excuse because when he sees creation, he sees the divine attributes of God almighty, the same power that created the universe, recreated your soul. When you gave your life to Christ, he transformed your soul. And Christ says to Peter, James, John, and Andrew, look, if you follow me, I'm going to make you fishers of men.

I'm going to make you a literary masterpiece for my glory. Ephesians two 10 says what we are his workmanship. In other words, we are his making. Same word is used. Poema. It's a word that speaks of the masterpiece of God. We know that we're saved by grace through faith because it's a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. And we are his workmanship. We become now his masterpiece. Here's the point. Just like when man looks at the world, he sees the glory of God, the divine attributes of God.

God says, when you follow me, when man sees you, he will see the divine attributes of God clearly on display in your life because you now have become a masterpiece of my glory.

Folks, that's wonderful. That's what salvation is. And that's what Christ was doing. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. So Christ, when he gives forth the command, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Verse 25 of Luke 9 is a hyperbole. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? In other words, when you walk away from everything and follow Christ, Christ says, just in case you're wondering, let's suppose you were able to gain the whole world.

Now, you can't gain the whole world. That's impossible. But let's suppose you could. What value is it to gain the whole world and lose your own soul? Now, what is the world? What is the world? We know the Bible tells us, first John chapter two, verse number 15, love not the world.

Okay. Neither the things that are in the world. For if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And what is the world? It's the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Folks, that's the world. So Christ says, let's say you could have everything your heart desired, everything your eyes craved, every aspect of prestige and pride and recognition you could obtain.

Let's say you got it all. You received it all. But the end result is that you lose your soul. And that's why Matthew 16 says, for what would a man give in exchange for his soul? Salvation is an exchange. It's my life for Christ's life. And so therefore, Christ says, listen, if you were to gain everything your heart desired, everything your eyes coveted, everything you longed for, you gained it all and yet lost your own soul, where would you be?

Because you see, if you have the world, you don't have the Father. If you have all the things the world gives, the love of the Father is not in you. You can't love the world and love the Father too. You can't. You can't do that. It's one or the other. And Christ says, you give up all that when you follow me.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, all those passions that drive man, you give it all up because you want to follow me. Remember what Christ said, what Paul said, I'm sorry, Christ said it because it's inspired by God. 2 Corinthians 5 verse number 14. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

That's salvation. Paul says, when you come to Christ, you live for him. You no longer live for yourself. Why? Because you died yourself. That's what Jesus said when he said, if any man came after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross daily and follow me. Well, Paul understood that. He died himself and the reason he died himself is because he wanted to live for the glory of God. That's why in Galatians 2 20, he said these words, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me. Paul says, I've been crucified with life. Listen, if I said, I, I'm going to offer you the most distinguished life in all the world. Do you want it? And you said, yes, I want it. Then you must remember if you want the distinguished life, you must live the relinquished life. And if you're going to live the relinquished life, you've got to live the extinguished life. That's the only way you can live a distinguished life.

Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ. I've died to self. That's the extinguished life. My life has been snuffed out because I've denied myself. I've taken on my cross and I'm following Christ. My life means nothing for to me to live as Christ Paul says, and to die is gain. I have been crucified with Christ. He says, it's no longer I live, but Christ lives in me. That's the relinquished life. I've relinquished it all. I've given it all away so that I can live a distinguished life because he says the life, which I now live in the flesh.

I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me. That is the distinguished life, a life of dependency and a life of devotion. And that's the message that Christ gives in Luke 9, verse number 23, when he says simply this, if any man came after me, let him deny himself, take him his cross daily and follow me. It speaks of contrition. It speaks of meekness. It speaks of poverty of spirit. It speaks of relinquishing my life. The whole idea of stealth, denial, sacrifice, surrender, and submission.

That is salvation. Self-denial, sacrifice, surrender, and submission. That's what happens in the life of a soul that's been granted the gift of faith, repentance, and belief. That's the transformation of a soul. You see, you say, well, if you say that, who can really actually do that? Nobody can do that. But God does it when he transforms a soul. When God calls a man, he calls him to himself and revolutionizes his life. That's why the Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a what?

He is a new creation. He's not an old creation. He is a new creation. Why? Because he has denied his old self. He has taken up his cross. He's died to self and he follows only Christ. He's no longer following the world. He's following Christ. That is what salvation is. And Jesus wants us to understand how important it is to follow him. It's all throughout the Gospels. John's account in John chapter 12, Christ said, he who loves his life loses it. And he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to eternal life.

That's where Martin Luther coined the term self-hate from John 12, verse 25. Christ says, you got to hate your life today in this world.

If you do, then you obtain eternal life. You no longer want your dreams, your desires, your aspirations. You want what I want, Christ says.

And listen, if you've come to recognize who he is, the Messiah of God, and you realize that his work on the cross was to forgive you of your sins, then what you do is you throw yourself on him and you easily relinquish your life to him because there is nothing in you that will save you. There's nothing about you that's of any worth whatsoever. And so you give your life to the master and you serve only him. You follow him because the way you were going was leading nowhere. But the way he is going leads to eternal life.

And that's what you want. And so Jesus says, very simply, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.

It is not easy to be saved. It's so hard. That's why in Matthew 7, verse number 13, when Christ gave the invitation, what did he say? He said, enter by the narrow gate. It's a command. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. And few are those who find it. But you need to enter by the narrow gate. There are two gates. There are two destinations.

There are two crowds. He goes on to say there are two kinds of trees, two kinds of trees, two kinds of foundations, two kinds of buildings. It all depends on which road you take. Christianity is at the crossroads. And we call people to that crossroad and say, you either enter by the narrow gate or you go with the many down the broad road that leads to destruction. And Jesus would say these words in Luke chapter 13, when asked the question, are there only a few being saved? He said, strive to enter by the narrow gate.

For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able to enter. Why won't they be able to enter? Because once they find the gate, once they see the gate, once they speak to the gate, there's the decision that must be made. Will I give up my life for Christ's life? Will I leave behind my dreams, my hopes, my aspirations and follow Christ? That's why Jesus said, strive to enter. Agonizami. It's a word of agony. Same word used by Paul over in 1 Corinthians 9.25 of an athlete battling for victory.

Same word used in Colossians 4.12 of Epaphras, who labored fervently in prayer. And the same word used in 1 Timothy 6.12 of a Christian who fights the good fight. Christ uses that same word when he says, when you find the gate, strive, agonize to enter, battle to enter, because to become a Christian is an all out war on your soul. Jesus would say this in Matthew 11, verse number 12, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men suffer, enter it by force.

He says in Luke 16.16, the gospel of the kingdom is preached and everyone is forcing his way into it. You see, Jesus spoke against easy believism. He spoke about how difficult it was to enter the people are forcing their way into it. Why? Why is it such a violent entry? Why is it there is a force to enter? Because you are wrestling against Satan, your sin, and your soul's desire. And you have to give it all away. You have to deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow him. It was the apostle Peter in Acts chapter, I'm sorry, 1 Peter 4.18, who says, it is with difficulty, it is with difficulty that the righteous are being saved.

Over in Acts chapter 14, Acts chapter 14, Paul says this, verse 20, while the disciples stood around him, he arose into the city. This is after Paul had been taken out and stoned outside the city. And the next day he went away with Bartimaeus to Derbe. And after they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

Through much tribulation, one enters the kingdom of God. Now you compare the words of Jesus, the words of Peter, and the words of Paul with modern-day evangelists, and you ask, who's truly being saved? Big difference, a big difference. Could it be, could it be that many of our converts are on the wrong road because they took the easy way through the wrong gate? I suggest that that probably is more true than fiction. So we need to understand the essence of the gospel. That's why God said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29 verse 13, as he spoke to the children of Israel, you will seek me and you will find me when you seek for me, what?

With all your heart. You're not going to find me if you seek me with half your heart. You're not going to find me if you search for me with a third of your heart.

If you just kind of go through the motions, you're not going to find me. You can't seek me unless you seek me with all your heart. And you won't find me unless all your heart is after me and all your heart is mine. Mine. And how many half-hearted people do we have today saying and claiming they're on the road to Christianity or on the road to Christ or on the road to heaven, when in reality, their hearts are divided between the world and the Lord God. God made it very clear. You're not going to find me until you seek for me.

And you won't seek for me and find me until you seek for me with everything that you have. In other words, everything in your being wants me and no longer do you want yourself because you loathe yourself and you realize that I am that valued pearl, that pearl of great price, that valued treasure, and you throw your life on me. Folks, that's what salvation is. It's the greatest message man could ever receive. It's the greatest message we could ever speak because that message totally transforms a soul.

And you know that nobody gets saved hearing that message unless God compels them to receive his free gift of grace. And that's the message Jesus said you need to preach. Jesus says, enter by the narrow gate.

What's the narrow gate? What's that? Well, it's not what, it's who, right? John 10, verse 9, Jesus says, I am the gate.

I am the door. Jesus said in John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the light. No man comes to the father but by me. Jesus made it very clear that he is that one mediator between God and man, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. Acts 4 tells us that there is no other name in heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That gate is Jesus Christ. That door is Jesus Christ. Enter through me. Enter through me. I am that narrow gate. I am that narrow door. You can only get to the father through me. That's it.

There is no other way. It's just me. And the rich young ruler, he saw the gate. He walked up to the gate. He spoke to the gate. And the gate said, you're an idolater. The gate said, you are self-righteous. And the rich young ruler said, I don't believe that. And he walked away. And he continued through the broad gate. He continued walking down the wrong road, his road of self-righteousness, his road of human achievement, his road of selfishness, and would perish because when he saw the gate and spoke to the gate, he did not submit to the words of the gate.

Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's why Christ says, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.

Submit to me. Salvation is a submissive act. It's submitting to the words of Christ. It's submitting to the ways of Christ because my words are ineffective and my ways are deficient, but his words are everything. So when I realize who he is and what he's done, what difference does it make about the direction I am going? It makes no difference because my way is hell's way. His way is heaven's way. And I want heaven more than I ever desire to go to hell. I want to go God's way. Remember in John chapter six, after Christ fed the 5,000 and the very next day, after he walked in the water that night, the very next day, they met him at the shore.

We've talked about this during our study of the feeding of the 5,000. And they came up to him because they wanted breakfast. Why do you seek me? He says, you seek me because you want food. You want to be fed. And remember after he fed the 5,000, they wanted to take him by force and make him their king. Remember that? We want you to be our king. And he had to escape to the crowd, a crowd of 25,000 people who wanted to inaugurate him as their king or coronate him as their king. And so he would leave and he would escape.

And the very next day on the shores of Galilee, they saw him again. And Christ told him very clearly these words, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part with me. He talked about the manna that came down from heaven and what Moses fed the nation of Israel, but he was the bread of heaven. And he was sent down from his father above. And that the food that he would give them would be life for their souls. He says, you got to eat my flesh and drink my blood. And that saying was too hard for them.

In other words, he said very clearly that if you are not willing to make me the singular food of your soul, you will die in your sins. And the Bible says very clearly in John six, that many of those, those disciples, those curious ones who were following him turned around and walked away and no longer ever wanted to be with him because it was too hard for them to accept.

They didn't want to make him the singular food for their souls. There was something else that was more valuable to them. There was something else that they treasured more than Christ. And Christ says, you can't come to me unless all you want is me.

If you want something else and just add me to your lifestyle, you can't have it because that's not what I'm about. You give your life to me. You throw yourself upon me. I am the master. I am the king. I am the sovereign ruler of the universe. You give your life to me. And if you don't want to give your life to me, having recognized who I am and what I've done, then you have no part with me. And that's what makes verse 26 so significant. And that's our verse for today where he says, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words of him, will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory, in the glory of the father of the holy angels.

He says very simply this. He identifies the unrepentant person as one who is unashamed, who is ashamed of Christ. The Christian is unashamed of the Christ, but the unbeliever is ashamed of these words. This is so unique. Jesus says very clearly, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words, what words?

The words that I've just given to you. If you have heard what I have just said, if you have come to grips with the fact that you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Listen, if you find those words unacceptable to you, then when the son of man appears in all of his glory, you will be judged, your soul will be damned. That's what he says. But if you find those words acceptable to you, you will not be ashamed of Christ. You will speak for Christ. In Matthew's account it says, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my father who is in heaven.

What will you confess? What will you say? You will say the same thing that Jesus said. You will say what the Bible says concerning his existence, his identity, his work, and his call to saving grace.

You'll say everything he said. You will confess him loudly. You will speak his words, the words of Luke 9, 23 to 26. But he says, if you find my words unacceptable, in other words, you've heard my words and you are ashamed of my words. See, the Christian came to Christ because he was ashamed of his life. He was ashamed of the direction he was going. He was ashamed of the words that he spoke. He was ashamed of all things happening in his life. So ashamed that he would deny himself, he would take up his cross, and he would follow Christ.

He would submit to the Christ because he was completely ashamed of his life and unashamed of Christ's life and unashamed of the words of Christ. But the unbeliever, he finds the words of Christ shameful. I'm not doing that. You've got to be kidding me. That's not what I'm about. I'm not going to deny myself. I love myself. I'm not going to take up my cross. I'm not willing to give my life away for you. Why not? He gave his life away for you, but I'm not giving my life away for him and follow him and submit.

I'm not going to do that. I'm going to follow my way. I'm going to do what I want to do. And Christ says, then you have just testified that you are ashamed of my words.

You're ashamed of my words. And so Jesus says very clearly, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

It speaks of the time of his coming right before the millennial kingdom and right after the tribulation. You can read about it in Matthew 24 and Matthew 25, second Thessalonians chapter one, verses seven and nine, Revelation chapter 19, Revelation chapter 16, Joel chapter three, all throughout the Old Testament about the prophecy of the coming Messiah, Jude 14 and 15, about the very first prophecy by a man.

It was about the second coming of the Messiah, where he would come to judge all the ungodly. Jesus says, when I return, when I return, if you find my words unacceptable to you, then I will find you unacceptable to me.

And when I return in the glory of my Father, with all my holy ones, I will judge you. It's called the judgment of the nations in Matthew 24 and 25, I guess Matthew 25, the sheep goat judgment, where he brings everybody to the valley of decision, the valley of Jehoshaphat, the Kidron Valley, the valley outside the eastern gate of the city walls of Jerusalem. I will bring you to that valley. When the Son of Man comes, I will find you completely unacceptable to me because my words were unacceptable to you.

And what do you gain? What do you gain? You gain the whole world, if you could, but you still lose your soul. Is it worth that? Is it worth losing your soul when it's all said and done? Everybody who finds these words unacceptable says, I'm going to risk it. I'm going to try to obtain the world and I'll forfeit my own soul. I'll live for now.

I'll live for the temporary. Forget about the eternal. I'll live for today. Forget about tomorrow. I want it all right now and I'll do all I can to get it right now because I find the words of Christ unacceptable to me. I find the words of Christ shameful to me. Well, the believer says, I am so ashamed of my life. I am so ashamed of my sin. I am so ashamed of the direction I'm going. I am so ashamed. As the publican in Luke 18, he would beat up on his breast and not even look up to heaven because he was so ashamed of his life.

I say, Oh God, be merciful unto me, a sinner. That's the cry of the broken and contrite heart. That's the cry of the one who says, Lord, take my life and let it be wholly consecrated Lord to thee. Lord, I want your life. I don't want my life anymore. I want what you have to offer because I have nothing to give. That's what salvation is. So I ask you this question. Are you saved? Are you born again? Has your life been transformed from the inside out? Do you have at the innermost part of your being a desire to no longer live for yourself, but for him who died and rose again on your behalf?

If you do, you are saved. If you don't, then today is a day of your salvation. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for the truth of your word and the ability to take it and open it up and to read it, to study it, but most importantly, Lord, to apply it to our lives. If there'd be one person among us today who does not know you, has not given their life to you, Lord, help them to understand that they had everything the world had to offer and they attained it all. Is it worth losing their soul over?

It's not. It's not because you're coming again and you will judge every man who's ashamed of your words, who does not confess you as Lord and Christ of their lives, who finds your words unacceptable. But for those of you who, for those of us who are ashamed of our lives, we cry out to you and ask that you would be merciful unto us, that Lord, we might experience the joys, the joys of the cross in following you. If there'd be one today that does not know you, may today be the day of their salvation.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.